To Dance With You
by Serene Ice Dragon
Summary: Terazuma could only watch as Tsuzuki danced with Kannuki. Now, he wants to learn to contain his Shikigami so that he can dance with her at least once, but he can't do it alone. While trying to keep it a secret from her, he must turn to others for help.
1. The Training Begins?

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_Author's note: Because there aren't enough TerazumaxWakaba fics out there. The part about the Count's ball is taken from volume 9 of the manga, which is the basis of the fic._

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Terazuma stood back, watching as Tsuzuki took Kannuki's hand and walked her to the dance floor. For some reason, it pained him to watch. He told himself that such a feeling was normal, seeing as his rival was whisking his partner away. Yet no matter how he tried to deny it, he knew that was only half of it. What really bothered him was the fact he himself could never do such a thing. He could only be a spectator as the two glided across the dance room floor, Kannuki being twirled about by Tsuzuki as they danced, a smile spread across face. She had asked Terazuma to dance, to which he had replied that he would never do something so effeminate. Of course, that was a lie, and he knew it.

"Doesn't it bother you, Terazuma? Seeing them like that?"

Terazuma glanced to his left, where Hisoka was standing, looking at him from the corner of his eye. Terazuma shrugged. "What's there to be bothered about?"

"You should dance with her, at least once."

"Idiot! You know what will happen if I do that!"

Hisoka didn't look convinced. He stared at Terazuma for a moment, as if daring him to speak aloud what he was really thinking, take Kannuki from Tsuzuki, and dance the night away. A few seconds later, he turned away.

"Well, that's a convenient excuse."

Terazuma turned around, stomping his foot as he did so. "What did you say?! Hey, stop walking away! What are you trying to say?! Talk!" But Hisoka was already heading out the door. Terazuma growled. Just because the kid was an empath didn't mean he had to butt in to other people's business. It was the damned Shikigami's fault! No way he could dance with Kannuki without transforming.

…Right?

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"I wish you would have joined in, Hajime! It was so fun!" Kannuki said as they walked back home, side-by-side, but not close enough to make Terazuma uncomfortable.

"Meh. You know how I feel about dancing." Terazuma responded, lighting up a cigarette. There you go, Kagan Kuroshungei, enjoy and shut up.

Kannuki had a teasing grin on her face. "You weren't jealous, by any chance, were you?"

Terazuma growled. "Of course not! What's to be jealous of? Tsuzuki? Hah! He's so clumsy, I'd be surprised if he didn't step all over your feet."

"Oh, come on, Hajime, he isn't that bad. He is actually a pretty good dancer when he wants to be. You know, I bet you would be too, if you gave it a try."

"You know I can't."

His partner sighed, but quickly hid the frown forming on her lips, turning it into her usual bright smile. "It's okay, Hajime, we'll find a way someday."

By this time, they had arrived back at their house. Terazuma dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his keys, unlocking the door and letting Kannuki in first. After they were both in, he closed the door behind him and locked it back up. He tossed his keys onto the kitchen table as he walked past, stopping in front of the hall that led to his and Kannuki's rooms.

"I think I'm going to go to bed now." Kannuki said with a yawn. "I'm kind of tired, it was quite a night."

"That's for sure, what with the Count 'losing' his mask and all." Terazuma grumbled, making quotation mark signs with his fingers at the word 'losing'.

"Mm. It was still a fun night though!"

Terazuma shrugged. "I guess."

"Well, good night, Hajime." For a brief moment, Kannuki stood there, as if expecting a hug or something of the sort, but then smiled and skipped off to bed.

"'Night, Kannuki."

After his partner had closed the door to her room, Terazuma headed for his own bedroom. After closing the door behind him with more force than was necessary, he let himself fall onto his bed. He couldn't help but feel he let Kannuki down someway. The way she spoke, she sounded as if she had really wanted to dance with him. She seemed to have had fun with Tsuzuki, but would she have had more fun if it had been him instead? Bah, no point in thinking on it now. It was over and done with, and there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

As he undressed, Terazuma caught his reflection in one of the windows. He wasn't particularly fond of his reflection; every time he saw it, he was reminded of Kuroshungei. How could he not be? The damn parasite had changed his whole face. It had been a while since the incident, so he was used to it by now - it wasn't nearly as shocking as when it first happened – but naturally it still bothered him a little.

He could still remember the day he was forced into obtaining a Shikigami. Since Terazuma had no special powers in particular, the previous chief had ordered him to tame a Shikigami. He had protested, of course. Oh, had he protested. They literally had to drag him in to Gensokai to face Kuroshungei. Terazuma had passed the Shikigami's test, and thus Kuroshungei had to accept Terazuma as his master. Unfortunately, since Terazuma hadn't wanted Kuroshungei to begin with, he couldn't completely control the parasitic Shikigami. They melded together in a way that forever altered Terazuma's appearance which, because of his reluctance, was much more severe than the marking a Shinigami with a parasitic type Shikigami normally obtained. Ever since, he'd been stuck with a hotheaded, fire-type Shiki that apparently loathed women, and Kannuki seemed to be the only one who could return him to normal when Kuroshungei went out of control. In fact, that was the reason he and Kannuki had been partnered together, as well as the reason they shared a house. Neither of them went very far without the other.

How ironic it was that the only person who could force Kuroshungei back was a female. That always confused Terazuma. He guessed because she was one of the Gatekeepers and had a high spirit power. The first time he had found out she would have to be his partner permanently and he would have to live with her he wasn't too thrilled. She was hyper, bubbly, and a tad annoying. After a little while though, he got used to her, and began enjoying her company. She was kind, helpful, and did her best to make sure she didn't transform him on accident. Of course, there was still the occasional slip-up when she got excited and hugged him, but she put up with his smoking and strict no physical contact policy. He had grown attached to Kannuki. Even if he were now given the choice, he'd never trade her in for another partner. If only he could give her what she wanted. She wouldn't show it, but Terazuma knew she was disappointed he didn't dance with her. Kuroshungei was just too powerful to hold back.

Or was he? Would it be possible to learn to better control the Shikigami so that, at the very least, he could touch Kannuki for even a short amount of time? Just a few minutes, just long enough for one dance. Maybe there was a possibility of training himself so that he could better hold Kuroshungei back. He probably couldn't do it alone, but whom could he ask for help? Certainly not Tsuzuki. No way would he ever ask that lazy excuse of a Shinigami for help. Maybe Tsuzuki's partner? Terazuma hated going to anybody for help, and asking Kurosaki wasn't much better than asking Tsuzuki, but it was a start. If Terazuma couldn't even touch a boy, how was he going to learn to touch a girl? But…Kurosaki, of all people! It was embarrassing enough that he had transformed once before because of the boy, and in public, no less. Terazuma sighed. Then again, what other choice did he have? He really wanted to do something for Kannuki. Kurosaki was his best bet. Perhaps he could speak with the boy tomorrow. In private. No way was he going to let anybody else know about this, and if Kurosaki didn't agree to keep it a complete secret from everyone, especially Tsuzuki, then he wasn't going to even bother.

Well, he'd find out tomorrow. At the moment, he just wanted sleep. The Count's ridiculous "stolen" mask fiasco had left Terazuma tired. Settling into bed, Terazuma closed his eyes. It took him a while before he actually fell asleep, but eventually he stopped thinking about the problem long enough to slip into unconsciousness.

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The next morning, Terazuma awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. The scent of bacon snuck in through the crack under the door, almost instantly making the Shinigami hungry. Bacon always had that effect for whatever reason. Even if the rest of the meal didn't make him all that hungry, the smell of the bacon did.

With a stretch, Terazuma slipped out of bed, not bothering to dress himself further than throwing on a shirt, leaving it unbuttoned. He walked out into the kitchen, where Kannuki was happily preparing their breakfast.

"Good morning, Hajime!" The younger Shinigami greeted with a bright smile. Her happiness was contagious, and Terazuma couldn't help but smile back.

"Morning, Kannuki." He sniffed the air. "Mmm, smells good."

Kannuki giggled. "Good timing, I'm almost done with breakfast."

While his partner finished cooking, Terazuma set the table for the two of them. By the time he was finished, so was Kannuki. She walked over with a skillet, slipping two fried eggs into Terazuma's plate and one into hers. She then put on an oven mitt and pulled a pan of bacon out of the oven (which only consisted of a couple slices, since she insisted on eating healthy and wouldn't let Terazuma eat more than that at once), gave the slices to Terazuma after padding as much grease off of them with a paper towel that she could, set the hot pan on top of the stove to cool off, and took a seat across from Terazuma. A few slices of cantaloupe sat on a plate in the center of the table, which Terazuma had sliced while Kannuki was serving the food. Both Shinigami reached for the plate at the same time, freezing for a fraction of a second when Kannuki's hand overlapped Terazuma's, then both pulling away like a couple of shy teenagers.

"Ah, Hajime, sorry!" Kannuki spurted out, her fingers already clasped on an ofuda, ready to change Terazuma back.

For a moment, Terazuma was worried that he was going to wreck the nice breakfast Kannuki had made, but the feeling subsided as Kuroshungei relaxed. "It's alright, I'm fine." He heard Kannuki sigh in relief as she relaxed, moving her hand away from her breast pocket and grabbing her fork. Terazuma gave a small grin. "I can't have Kuroshungei ruining the breakfast you made, now can I?"

Kannuki giggled. "Glad you like it, Hajime-chan."

The two ate in silence for a few minutes, Terazuma's mind already back on the problem he had been thinking about the night before. He had already decided to talk to Kurosaki, but the problem was keeping it a secret from Kannuki. She was the only one who could bring him back if he transformed, so it was hard to try to train himself without her there, ready to change him back if he transformed. He wouldn't ask for her help at all if he had the choice, but by the time he regained control on his own, a month's worth of paycheck was down the drain from the destruction Kuroshungei left in his wake. Then again, it shouldn't be too hard to explain away. He could just blame it on Tsuzuki. As much as he hated to admit it, it wasn't uncommon that the two would get into an argument that resulted in Terazuma's transformation.

"Hey, Hajime, I need to go food shopping later. Do you want to come with me, or do you want to stay home?"

"Hm? Oh...actually, I was going to go visit Kurosaki today...I uh...have something I need to talk to him about."

"Kurosaki? What do you have to talk to him about?" Kannuki asked, curious.

Terazuma shrugged. "Not sure, he just asked me to stop by when I got a chance."

"I guess that's okay, as long as you don't get into a fight with Tsuzuki. If Tsuzuki is going to be there, you are better off waiting until I get back, I can't be held responsible if you transform while I'm not around."

"Hey, gimme a break. I won't be there for long, and it's not Tsuzuki I'm going to talk to, it's Kurosaki."

"I suppose. Though, he made you transform once too."

Terazuma flinched. "That...was something different."

"Okay, okay. I'll leave you alone."

After finishing their breakfast, the pair began cleaning up. Kannuki was about to do dishes, but Terazuma insisted on washing them, since she had made the breakfast by herself. About fifteen minutes later, everything was clean and Kannuki was heading out the door.

"If you aren't back here when I get back, I'll meet you at Kurosaki's, okay, Hajime?"

Terazuma nodded. "Alright." That meant he would have to be back before Kannuki was done putting groceries away. If it was at all possible to keep this a secret from her, then he was determined to do so. He knew she'd be more than willing to help him, but he wanted to surprise her with it. That and, if it turned out he couldn't gain control over Kuroshungei, he didn't want to disappoint her.

No more than a minute after Kannuki had walked out the door, Terazuma grabbed his keys and followed suit. It was a nice day out, the temperature was warm, but not too hot, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. No clouds meant no rain, no rain meant a comfortable Kuroshungei, and a comfortable Kuroshungei meant a happy Terazuma. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

As Hisoka's house came into sight, Terazuma looked about, trying to see if Tsuzuki was anywhere nearby. He wasn't anywhere outside, at least, so unless he had actually gotten his lazy ass out of bed in the morning to visit Kurosaki, he probably wasn't inside either. It was still possible though, so he'd have to be careful. He approached the door and knocked, trying to peek in the windows to see if he could see Tsuzuki. He couldn't hear his loud mouth, so that was a good sign.

The door opened, and Hisoka looked totally confused at the person standing on his doorstep. "Terazuma? What are you doing here?"

"Hey, your partner isn't around, is he?"

"No..."

"Good. Mind if I come in?"

"Uh...no, I don't mind." The younger Shinigami stepped aside, still looking as confused as ever, and let Terazuma in before closing the door behind them. "What's going on?"

Terazuma was rather uncomfortable and hesitated a moment. "Er...well, I wanted to ask for a favor..."

Hisoka raised an eyebrow. "Favor?"

"Yeah...you know the whole thing on how I can't touch girls. Well...I was thinking about it, and I was wondering if you could...er...help me out a bit. Since you...you know...that time...at the archery contest..."

"You want me to help keep from transforming every time you touch a girl? Or...er...me?"

"Well, yes." Terazuma's gaze suddenly hardened as he stared down Hisoka. "But I swear, you cannot tell ANYBODY! That includes Tsuzuki!"

Hisoka held up his hands. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

"Are you sure? Not going to say anything to Tsuzuki?" Terazuma growled.

"Just because he's my partner doesn't mean I can't keep secrets from him."

Terazuma backed off. "Fine. So, will you help me?"

"Wouldn't you be better off asking Kannuki for help?"

"That's the point. I don't want her to know. I want to surprise her. And...if I can't do it, I don't want to get her excited only to disappoint her. Look, if you don't want to help, just tell me."

Ah, so that was why. Well, it made sense, though he still thought Terazuma would be better off asking Tsuzuki for help, since he knew all about Shikigami, but putting those two together was just asking for trouble. "I'll help. I don't know a lot about Shikigami though, so I don't know how much help I can be."

"That's fine, I just need to be around you a bit, you know, to try to keep Kuroshungei away. Since you are feminine enough to convince Kuroshungei you are a girl, I figured you'd be a good first step."

Hisoka glared. "Watch it, or I won't help you. Don't forget that right now, I can still transform you."

"Er...right...so...uh...I guess I'll just hang out here for a bit. Kannuki is getting some food so she'll be a little while."

"You mind if we go outside? I'd rather not have you destroy my house"

"Outside?" Terazuma really didn't want to go outside. He didn't want anybody knowing. It would be strange enough if somebody saw him at the kid's house, and soon his secret would be spread all over the office. There was no backyard, so they would be visible outside of the house.

"It's outside, or no deal."

Terazuma growled. "Fine. But if anybody asks, I was just dropping something off Kannuki wanted to give you or something."

"Fine with me." Hisoka said, following Terazuma out the door. Terazuma was standing closer than normal to Hisoka, but still not close enough to make physical contact. "So, how's this training thing going to go? Gradually stand closer until you can touch me without turning into Godzilla's cousin?"

Terazuma glared. "Something like that. Don't worry, when Kuroshungei gets to be too much to handle, I'll step away."

"As long as you know what you are doing." There was an awkward silence as both Shinigami tried to figure out what to do next. Hisoka could feel how uncomfortable Terazuma was with this whole thing, but there was also determination to see it through. Hisoka couldn't help but admire Terazuma's efforts, and he couldn't say no when Terazuma was dead set on trying to make Kannuki happy. "She has no clue what you are doing?"

"Nope. I told her you wanted to talk to me about something."

"How are you going to keep it a secret from her?" Hisoka asked, starting to walk down the street. Not only did it look strange, but he wanted to get Terazuma away from the houses in case he transformed.

Terazuma sighed and followed Hisoka. "Carefully. Very carefully."

They hadn't gotten very far when Hisoka suddenly stopped. "Oh no...Terazuma, I think you should-"

"And what are _you_ doing here?"

Terazuma turned around to see Tsuzuki standing there, arms crossed with a not-so-friendly expression. "Oh, great, it's you."

"That doesn't answer my question. And why are you standing so close to Hisoka?"

"None of your business." Terazuma growled. He quickly corrected himself, trying not to get into a fight. "I was just stopping by to drop something off."

"Actually, it _is_ my business, since that's _my_ partner you are talking to."

Hisoka was resisting to urge to slap Tsuzuki upside his head. "Tsuzuki, stop being stupid! It's Terazuma, not Muraki. It's not like he's going to try to rape me."

"How do I know that?"

At this point, Terazuma could no longer seem to hold himself back. "He's your partner, not your property, and I'll talk to him if I want. In fact, I'll stand as close to him as I want. Got a problem with that?"

"Maybe I do." Tsuzuki said, glaring. He knew Terazuma was just trying to get at him, and there was no way he was going to let him win.

Terazuma positioned himself closer to Hisoka, mere centimeters away from touching him. If it wasn't for Kuroshungei, he'd have his arm around the boy too. "Well that's too bad. We are in the middle of a conversation, and you interrupted. Why don't you come back in a few minutes?"

"Hey, don't forget who you are talking to! _You_ can't tell _me_ what to do!"

Hisoka didn't stand a chance. Before he could even try to stop them from fighting, Terazuma had transformed and Tsuzuki had summoned Byakko. He tried yelling at them to stop, but neither were listening, not that his voice could be heard above the roars anyway. All but the battle was forgotten to Terazuma and Tsuzuki, including the fact Hisoka's house was right there. A blast came from both sides, meeting somewhere in between, and causing a small explosion that took half of Hisoka's house with it. He could only watch as the roof was blown clear off, and a good portion of the walls were destroyed. It was only when he realized what had happened that Tsuzuki had made Byakko stop attacking, leaving Terazuma transformed and thrashing around as the Shinigami tried to regain control over his parasitic Shikigami.

A couple of seconds later, Kannuki had appeared, ofuda in hand and jumping into the air. As the paper charm was stuck to Kuroshungei's head, he shrunk, Terazuma slowly turning back to himself. Once he was back to normal (or, as normal as Terazuma could get), he hastily put his clothes back on. His mouth dropped open when he saw what his and Tsuzuki's battle had done to Hisoka's house. Terazuma and Tsuzuki both slowly turned to face Hisoka, waiting for the imminent explosion.


	2. Decision

"My...house..." Hisoka said in disbelief, staring at the wreckage that was once his home.

"I'm so sorry, Hisoka!"

Hisoka turned on Tsuzuki. "You're sorry? Sorry isn't going to fix my house, Tsuzuki! You wrecked it! I TOLD you to cut it out! And YOU!" he yelled, pointing at Terazuma. "Is this the thanks I get for trying to be nice?!"

Terazuma growled. "It's not my fault, he started it!"

"Oh, so you are going to blame this on me?!" Tsuzuki yelled back. "You were the one trying to get under my skin then transformed!"

"Well if you would have just left us alone for a couple more minutes like I asked you to!"

"SHUT! UP!" Hisoka yelled, silencing the two bickering Shinigami. "You are both complete idiots, and you are both responsible!"

Kannuki wasn't the least bit happy. "Hajime! Apologize to Kurosaki right now!"

"Sorry..." Came the mumbled reply.

"Louder! And look at him when you say it!"

Terazuma sighed, barely glancing at Hisoka. "Sorry, Kurosaki."

Kannuki bowed. "I'm so sorry, Kurosaki! I was going to come with Hajime, but I thought he'd be fine. If you want, you can stay with us until your house gets fixed."

"Thanks, Kannuki, but I don't want to inconvenience you, it wasn't your fault. It'll probably be a while..."

"It's not an inconvenience. We can't just leave you without a place to stay. Oh! I know! We can balance it out. You can stay with Tsuzuki for a little while and us for a little while!"

"I guess that would work..." It did make the most sense. While he didn't want to inconvenience Kannuki for Terazuma's mistake, if he switched between them and Tsuzuki, it wouldn't be as much trouble.

Kannuki smiled. "Great! We'll help you move your stuff then. So, which house first?"

"He can stay with me for now." Tsuzuki offered, feeling guilty for ruining his partner's house.

Hisoka shrugged. "Tsuzuki's I guess. You don't have to help, Kannuki. You have groceries to put away, don't you?"

Kannuki glanced at the bags on the ground. "Hajime, you take those home and start putting them away. Quickly, please, because I don't want things thawing. I'll help Kurosaki get his stuff to Tsuzuki's house."

Terazuma grumbled to himself as he grabbed the bags of food. Well, better than having to be around Tsuzuki and Kurosaki. He just hoped the boy wouldn't reveal his secret, though now that his house was destroyed, Terazuma couldn't really expect him not to. Well, so much for getting help. It might have worked out if Kurosaki had stayed with them, but he wasn't going to ask for his assistance now. He'd have to come up with a new plan.

The next forty-five minutes were spent gathering what was needed from Hisoka's house and transferring it to Tsuzuki's. Kannuki had managed to lighten Hisoka's mood a bit, it was hard to stay angry with her around, but he was still mad at Tsuzuki. After they were done, Tsuzuki invited Kannuki inside for a snack, but she politely declined, saying she had to get back home.

"Just let us know when you want to switch, Kurosaki." Kannuki said with a smile.

"Okay. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. See you two later!" With a wave, Kannuki skipped off, heading back to her and Terazuma's place, Tsuzuki waving after her.

Hisoka sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with." He tried to tell himself things wouldn't be so bad. Since they were partners, they'd spent plenty of time together, so it couldn't be that bad. Then he saw the inside of the house.

In the kitchen, the sink was full of dirty dishes, just waiting to be cleaned. Hisoka was convinced Tsuzuki waited until he had no more utensils to eat with before he started washing them. The bedroom floor was littered with clothes that Hisoka guessed were from the previous day that Tsuzuki never bothered to throw in the laundry basket. Then again, that looked pretty full, so maybe he just couldn't fit them in. The bed was a mess, with a pillow laying somewhere in the middle and the blankets half-hanging off. Hisoka could swear he saw the leg of a teddy bear sticking up from between the bed and the wall.

After putting down his luggage against the wall where Tsuzuki had left what he had been carrying, Hisoka turned to his partner. "Alright, if I'm going to be staying here for any period of time, there's going to have to be some serious changes. There is no way I am staying in a house this messy. The only reason I'm even staying here is because I don't want to inconvenience Kannuki by staying with them the whole time. Cancel whatever plans you had for today, because I'm sure it'll take all afternoon to get this place clean." He stopped when he saw what he thought was food on the floor. "Are those...crumbs? That's it. Tsuzuki, out. _I_ will clean. Go wash your dishes or something."

Tsuzuki frowned. "But-"

"Out!" Hisoka yelled, pushing Tsuzuki out of the room and slamming the door, locking him out of his own bedroom. Tsuzuki sighed and slumped off to wash the dishes.

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When Kannuki got home, Terazuma had finished putting groceries away and was sitting on the couch, watching television.

"Kurosaki is moved into Tsuzuki's now. When he's ready to switch, he'll let us know and come spend some time with us." Kannuki sighed and sat on the other end of the couch. "Hajime, you really have to control yourself better. I don't care what kind of argument you and Tsuzuki were having, there was no reason for Kurosaki's house to have been destroyed because of it."

"He'll be fine. He's with Tsuzuki all the time anyway, living with him isn't a big deal."

"That's not the point, Hajime! You can't just brush it off like it's nothing! You barely even apologized!"

Terazuma took his eyes off the TV to face his partner. "It's not as easy as it sounds, Kannuki!" he said, raising his voice in aggravation. "Tsuzuki doesn't even realize what it's like to try to keep a parasitic Shikigami from breaking free because he can control twelve summoning Shiki with no problem! I tried not to argue with him but he has _no clue_!" He stopped, turning away and getting to his feet. "I'm going for a walk."

"Hajime..." Kannuki called, her tone soft, but Terazuma wasn't listening. He walked out the door without another word.

Terazuma didn't know where he was going, just that he was going there. He passed a restaurant that had just recently opened - Kannuki was still waiting for him to take her there; it was one of those fancy, upscale restaurants that was supposed to be perfect for dates, as well as very expensive -, a flower shop that was conveniently nearby, a bakery (which, much to Terazuma's dismay, reminded him of Tsuzuki), until he finally wound up at a park. He found an empty bench and took a seat.

So much for trying to surprise Kannuki. All that little trip had managed to do was destroy Kurosaki's house and make Kannuki angry. Why did it have to be so hard? If he had never been forced to tame a Shikigami, none of this would have happened. Terazuma sighed, dropping his face into his hands. This was never going to work. Kuroshungei was too strong. Dammit, he needed a cigarette. Terazuma pulled the pack out of his shirt pocket, grabbed a cigarette, lit it, and stuck it between his lips.

For a good fifteen minutes, Terazuma just sat there, smoking and watching people walk by. A couple holding hands passed him by. He wondered if they ever thought what it would be like if they couldn't touch each other. Most likely, they just reached for each other automatically, not having to worry about keeping a distance. The man would never know how it felt to stand back and watch as his partner danced with another man because he couldn't touch her.

Terazuma flicked the cigarette down then ground it out with his foot. He had to go apologize to Kannuki for his outburst. He walked out of the park, back past the bakery, the flower shop and the restaurant, and back to his and Kannuki's house.

"Hajime!" Kannuki said happily, bounding into the living room when she heard him close the door. "I'm sorry for getting you upset earlier."

Terazuma shook his head. "Nah, don't apologize, I'm sorry I yelled like that. I was just...aggravated."

"I understand. I know it's hard for you."

"It is...but you're right...that's still no reason to have gotten into that fight with Tsuzuki. Wasn't Kurosaki's fault, and he's the one that doesn't have a house now because of it. Damn, I'm probably going to have to hand in a report of what happened too so he can get his house repaired. There go my paychecks."

"Just make sure to give Kurosaki a proper apology the next time you see him, and be nice when he stays with us."

"I will."

Kannuki smiled. "Good. Now, we still have a while before dinner. Shall we entertain ourselves with a movie?"

Terazuma frowned. "Ah, actually, I should get working on that report. Tatsumi is going to have a hernia when he finds out what happened, and I don't want to have him all over me until I write up a detailed report." Of course, Terazuma was going to leave out the details as to why he was at Hisoka's to begin with. All he needed to say was that he was returning something to him. As long as Hisoka didn't say why he was really there, nobody would ever have to know.

"That's okay, we can watch it later. Movies are more fun at night anyway!"

"I'll be sure to finish before dinner then." Terazuma said with a small smile before heading to his room to type up his report.

----------

Tsuzuki plopped down on his couch and sighed. Other than the occasional instruction on what to clean next, Hisoka hadn't talked to him all day. Not that Tsuzuki could really blame him, seeing as he'd been partly to blame for destroying his partner's house. Okay, so maybe it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't argued with Terazuma. Though, Terazuma did have it coming to him with how he was purposely annoying Tsuzuki. Oh well, dwelling on it wasn't going to help. All Tsuzuki could do now was help get Hisoka's house fixed and make sure he had a comfortable place to stay in the meantime. At least the house was clean. In fact, Tsuzuki was sure this was the cleanest it had ever been. Hisoka had made him dust everything down after washing the dishes, and he had decided to vacuum afterwards.

"Done..."

Tsuzuki looked over to see Hisoka sit down on the opposite side of the couch. Hisoka put his head back, not bothering to look at Tsuzuki.

"Your bathroom is clean. Your bedroom is clean. The living room looks clean. I take it the kitchen is clean as well?" Hisoka asked, sparing a glance at Tsuzuki from the corner of his eye.

Tsuzuki nodded. "Yep. We'll have to pick up some food though, there isn't enough to last the two of us for long."

"There's enough for now, right? We'll pick some up tomorrow." It was silent for a moment as Hisoka tried to figure out what they'd do for the night's meal. He didn't particularly feel like cooking, but he certainly wasn't going to risk eating anything Tsuzuki made. He wasn't exactly sure how Tsuzuki got along on his own, maybe he was used to his own bad cooking, but Hisoka wasn't, nor did he want to attempt to get used to it.

"Want to go out for dinner?" Tsuzuki asked, as if he had read Hisoka's mind. That, or he didn't feel like cooking either. The latter seemed more likely given the situation.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Tsuzuki grinned. "Alright, get your jacket. My treat, since I'm the reason you are stuck here to begin with."

Hisoka raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I don't think you really have the money to be spending on eating out for yourself, never mind both of us."

"Positive. Money's not what's important. Just pick wherever you want to go. Now, hurry up, I'm hungry!"

Hisoka knew it was only a matter of time before he was the one who was going to have to pay for food for the both of them, but he wasn't going to argue. Tsuzuki really wanted to treat him, so Hisoka would let him. Despite the fact he shouldn't be the one trying to make Tsuzuki happy after what happened, he couldn't seem to reject the offer either. Oh well. As long as they didn't end up at a candy store or a bakery. After all, Tsuzuki did say it was Hisoka's choice. For a fleeting moment, Hisoka thought about choosing one of the more expensive restaurants around, but quickly decided against it. He wasn't _that_ mean, not to mention he was going to be the one paying for it (literally) in the end when Tsuzuki was out of money. Cheap dinner out it was.

Grabbing his denim jacket, the younger Shinigami headed out the door, leaving Tsuzuki to close and lock the door behind them.

-------

"Terazuma, come to the Cheif's office."

Terazuma sighed as Tatsumi summoned him with an all too unfriendly tone. No sooner had he gotten to his desk and got settled in than had the secretary come in to drag him away. It wasn't even the Chief that Terazuma didn't want to deal with, it was Tatsumi. Even he had to admit that the secretary was scary when he was angry, and boy did he get angry when money was wasted. Yep...he was doomed.

"Good luck, Hajime!" Wakaba whispered to him as he walked by. Unfortunately, he didn't think that luck was going to get him anywhere in this situation.

When Terazuma got to Chief Konoe's office, Tsuzuki was already sitting in one of the chairs looking like a puppy that had just been scolded. The sad part was, Terazuma was sure nobody had even said anything to him yet, as they seemed to be waiting until they were both there.

"So..." The Chief began, staring the two men down, "You two got into another fight...and destroyed Kurosaki's house..."

"I didn't mean too!" Tsuzuki whined.

Terazuma rolled his eyes. "I certainly hope you didn't mean to ruin your partner's house, but you still did."

"Hey, you did too!"

"If you had just walked away to begin with!"

"ENOUGH!" Konoe yelled, stopping the two before another fight could break out. Last thing he needed was for them to destroy the office as well. "You are both going to pay the full extent of the damage. The cost will be split equally between you. Have living arrangements been worked out for Kurosaki in the meantime?"

"He's staying with me at the moment." Tsuzuki said meekly.

"Kannuki and I are also willing to have him live with us for a little while." Terazuma added, more for Kannuki's sake than anything.

"Good." The Chief said. "Terazuma, I have your report already. Tsuzuki, where is yours?"

Tsuzuki averted his gaze. "Err...almost done...I'm working on it now."

"I want it handed in before lunch break. If it's not done by then, you aren't getting a break until it is done!"

"Yes, Chief..."

Konoe waved a dismissive hand. "That is all."

Terazuma got to his feet and left Chief Konoe's office, Tsuzuki following behind him. Neither of them said anything to each other, which was for the better, and soon split ways to head back to their own desks.

"How'd it go?" Kannuki asked as Terazuma sat down.

"The Chief told us the cost of repairing Kurosaki's house would be split equally between us, asked what we were doing about living arrangements for Kurosaki, then dismissed us."

"Oh. Well, that seemed to go rather smoothly."

Terazuma shrugged. "Tatsumi was unusually quiet considering it was concerning money, but I guess since it's coming straight out of my and Tsuzuki's paychecks he couldn't complain."

The rest of the morning went by as normal. Terazuma did his work while Kannuki did hers. Tsuzuki seemed to be making a point not to cross paths with Terazuma, which Terazuma confirmed when he went on lunch break and Tsuzuki was nowhere to be seen. Then again, he was probably still working on his report, being the slacker that he was. Not that Terazuma really cared _why_ Tsuzuki wasn't there, all that mattered was that he was, in fact, not there. Tsuzuki's partner, however, was, and, as much as Terazuma didn't really want to, he owed Hisoka a proper apology.

"Hey, Kurosaki, I'm really sorry about yesterday." Terazuma said low enough so that only Hisoka would hear, despite the fact nobody else was around to hear their conversation. "I can't imagine having to live with Tsuzuki is enjoyable."

Hisoka shrugged. "It's not too bad...after cleaning the place, that is."

"You can move in with us whenever you want to. Kannuki's more than happy to have you over."

Hisoka nodded, but otherwise said nothing. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Hisoka spoke. "I talked to Tsuzuki last night about your Shikigami."

Terazuma put down the can of soda he was about to take a drink from. "Oh?"

"No, I didn't tell him." Hisoka said, responding to Terazuma's thoughts.

"He wasn't suspicious? How'd you manage that?"

"It was easy, seeing as you two had fought. I just asked him why it was that you couldn't control Kuroshungei, but he could easily control twelve Shikigami."

Terazuma had to bite his tongue to refrain from insulting Tsuzuki and his Shikigami. "What did he say?"

"Well, basically that neither you nor your Shikigami wanted it. You didn't want a Shikigami but was forced into the test, so you had no choice but to fight through, and, when you passed, Kuroshungei had no choice but to become your Shikigami, so now you are both stuck with a partner that neither of you wants."

"Well, duh. I could have told you that. I know how it happened, what I want to know is how to control him."

Hisoka couldn't help but grin. He knew Terazuma was not going to like the answer Tsuzuki had given him. "He said you need to be more friendly to Kuroshungei. Since you dislike each other, you can't work together, so it's a matter of fighting for dominance rather than working together as a team."

Terazuma slammed his soda can down, spilling some of its contents onto the table. "Bullshit! Of course he's going to start spewing that friendship nonsense. I don't want to be the damn thing's friend, I want to control it!"

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger, I'm just repeating what Tsuzuki told me."

Terazuma growled in frustration. He should have known Tsuzuki would come up with such a ridiculous answer.

"Tsuzuki does know a lot about Shikigami. I know next to nothing about them. You really would be better off talking to him about it, as much as I know you hate the idea of asking him for help." When Terazuma didn't say anything, Hisoka continued, "Look, I'm not going to keep acting as a messenger for you. I asked Tsuzuki, and that's what I got. If I keep asking, he's going to find out, he's not that stupid. I agreed to help you, for Kannuki, but I'm also not going to keep hanging around you if you are going to transform all the time. If you want my help, and if you really want to do this for her, you are going to have to swallow your pride and talk to somebody who actually knows a lot about Shikigami before doing anything else that will result in property damage. Now, I'm getting back to work." With that, Hisoka got to his feet and left the break room, leaving Terazuma at the table.

"Great...just great." Terazuma growled to himself. Tsuzuki was the last person he ever wanted to ask for help from for anything, but did he have a choice? What was more important: Kannuki's happiness, or his own pride? He really, really hated it, but he was going to have to give in and ask Tsuzuki for help eventually. He sighed. The things he'd do for his partner.

Finishing his lunch and cleaning up his mess, Terazuma headed back to his desk, where he knew Kannuki was eagerly awaiting to hear he apologized to Kurosaki. At least she'd smile knowing Terazuma had, in fact, apologized. That one smile was all the push he needed to finally decide on eventually talking to Tsuzuki.

* * *

_Author's Note: Since this is a TerazumaxKannuki fic, I don't want to focus on other characters too much. While I couldn't pass up that little scene with Hisoka deciding Tsuzuki's house needed to be cleaned from top to bottom and having them involved with Terazuma's training is inevitable, interaction between them will be a bit more limited so that the focus of the story is on the relationship between Terazuma and Wakaba._

_That said, feedback is greatly appreciated, and thank you to those that have reviewed so far. =)_


	3. Realizations

The next couple of days were rather uneventful for Terazuma. It was business as usual, and he hadn't brought up Kuroshungei to Kurosaki or Tsuzuki. This day, however, would test Terazuma's control of his Shikigami. He woke up to a light rain, which only worsened as the morning went on. By the time he had finished getting ready for work, it was pouring. As much as he hated the rain, however, he felt a little hopeful. As long as he avoided getting drenched, he would be able to practice holding Kuroshungei away. The other positive note was that if he did transform, it wouldn't be something embarrassing like the last time.

Before walking out the door, Kannuki handed Terazuma his umbrella then grabbed her own. They never shared one, since being so close to each other was dangerous, especially while it was raining. There had been a few times when Kannuki had mentioned how romantic it was to share an umbrella in the rain, but she knew better than to actually try it with Terazuma. After taking his umbrella, Terazuma didn't light up a cigarette like he normally did when it was raining. He wanted to try going without giving Kuroshungei that comfort.

As they stepped outside, Terazuma shuddered. Though the rain wasn't hitting his body, Kuroshungei still didn't like it, and was further protesting due to the lack of smoke. He didn't like being denied, but the Shinigami was refusing to give in. After a couple of minutes, the Shikigami finally calmed a bit. Though he was still agitated, he wasn't threatening to take over Terazuma. This pleased Terazuma, and he decided to take it a little further. He angled his umbrella back slightly, letting a few drops of rain splash onto his face. He shuddered visibly as the cold water hit his skin, his Shikigami immediately exerting force, trying to get Terazuma back under the umbrella.

"Hajime? Are you alright?" Kannuki asked, having seen Terazuma tense.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just the rain, it's coming down heavy."

"Why don't you get a cigarette? I mean, I like seeing you not smoking, but doesn't it help?"

Terazuma shrugged. "It does help a little, but I'm trying to smoke a bit less. The things aren't cheap."

Kannuki smiled. "Hajime, that's wonderful! I'm so happy you are trying!"

Gray clouds may have been covering the sky, but Terazuma could swear it was a bright, shiny day with how Kannuki had so quickly pepped up. He stuck his arm out into the rain for a moment before retreating back under the umbrella, just to spite Kuroshungei. The Shikigami was not at all happy, but Terazuma managed to retain his control. He did know when he had reached his limit, however, and right now, this was it. Any more teasing, and he would certainly transform. For the remainder of the walk, Terazuma stayed under his umbrella, satisfied with having kept his control.

Only a few minutes after arriving at work, Terazuma and Kannuki were joined by Tsuzuki and Kurosaki.

"Kurosaki! Tsuzuki! Good morning!" Kannuki greeted the pair with a smile.

"Good morning, Wakaba!" Tsuzuki said in a voice even cheerier than his usual.

"Good morning." Hisoka said to Kannuki before turning to Terazuma. "You seem happy today, considering the weather."

Terazuma shrugged. "Guess you could say that." Luckily for him, he didn't have to explain, as Kurosaki could get the gist of why he was in a good mood via empathy. "Surprising to see you on time the third day in a row, Tsuzuki. I take it Kurosaki is responsible for that?"

Tsuzuki scowled, but Kurosaki ignored it and spoke anyway, "It wasn't easy. I had to drag him out of bed yesterday. Literally."

Kannuki giggled. "Well, you are both here on time, and that's all that matters! How is everything going with your house, Kurosaki? Is it being worked on?"

"Well, you know how Tatsumi is. Since the cost of repairs is coming out of the budget until Tsuzuki and Terazuma have fully paid it back, he's searching for the cheapest way possible without downgrading my house. Not to mention the furniture and appliances inside that need to be replaced."

Terazuma crossed his arms. "In other words, nothing has been done yet."

"Exactly."

"Well, just remember, we'll help out with whatever you need!" Kannuki said with a friendly smile. "Oh, we should probably get to work! See you later, Kurosaki, Tsuzuki! Let's go, Hajime!"

With that, Kannuki began skipping away. As Tsuzuki and Kurosaki began to follow suit, Terazuma made a move to grab Kurosaki's arm, stopping himself when he remembered who it was he was about to touch, and just called to him soft enough so that Tsuzuki, who was ahead, wouldn't hear.

"Hey, Kurosaki. Do you think you and Tsuzuki could meet me in the break room around twelve-thirty today?"

Kurosaki stopped when Terazuma called his name and turned around. "I suppose so. Are you going to ask Tsuzuki about Kuroshungei?"

Terazuma glanced to one side. "Well, I wanna see if he has any useful information. I've been working a little on it. I tested Kuroshungei out in the rain today, but that won't be enough."

"Alright. I'll bring Tsuzuki to the break room this afternoon then. I'm sure he'll be all too willing to take a break."

If he was able to touch Kurosaki, Terazuma would have given him a pat on the shoulder. "Thanks. See you later."

Kurosaki watched as Terazuma walked off. He was actually surprised Terazuma had requested to see Tsuzuki later. For him to put aside their rivalry and ask for help with a touchy subject like that showed that he cared for Kannuki a lot more than he showed. Kurosaki knew he cared about her, but he had expected Terazuma to remain stubborn. Doing this for Kannuki seemed extremely important to him. The only problem now was preventing Terazuma and Tsuzuki from getting into an argument. Kurosaki could only hope they could restrain themselves.

--------------------------

As the clock hit half-past noon, Kurosaki put his work aside and looked over at Tsuzuki.

"Hey, Tsuzuki, want to take a lunch break?"

Tsuzuki immediately looked up from his papers. "Sure!"

"You've been in an unusually happy mood all throughout work. Most of the time you are looking back at the clock every five minutes, bored." Kurosaki noted as he and Tsuzuki got up from their desks and headed over to the break room.

"Really? Well, I guess I'm happy you're staying at my house for a bit while yours gets fixed. I'm used to living alone, so it's nice having somebody else there. Don't you agree?"

Kurosaki shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it much, but so far, living with Tsuzuki hadn't been that bad at all. Tsuzuki didn't bother him too much, and left him alone when he wanted some quiet time. They kept the chores split evenly between them (though Kurosaki always did the cooking, out of fear of eating anything Tsuzuki made, Tsuzuki washed the dishes in return), and they hadn't had any problems yet. If it kept Tsuzuki in good spirits, Kurosaki was more than willing to stay. Ever since the incident in Kyoto, he feared Tsuzuki falling back into depression, and if he could do anything to prevent that from happening, he would. At least by living with him, he could keep a close eye on him.

When they got to the break room, Terazuma was already there, sitting on one of the sofas and smoking a cigarette. He glanced up when the pair walked into the room. Kurosaki and Terazuma exchanged glances, Terazuma hesitating to speak with Tsuzuki, and Kurosaki waiting for Terazuma to say something. Nobody said anything until Tsuzuki and Kurosaki had gotten food and sat down. Finally, Terazuma spoke.

"Hey, Tsuzuki...I, uh...I have a...favor...to ask of you..."

Tsuzuki put his sandwich down, looking at Terazuma with skepticism. "You want to ask _me_ for a favor?"

Terazuma kept his gaze on his hands in his lap. "Yeah...you know how it is with Kuroshungei and all? Well, when I saw you dancing with Kannuki at the Count's ball the other day...I realized what I couldn't do for her. That day when I was visiting Kurosaki, I was asking him for help. I want to be able to suppress Kuroshungei, if just for a little while. I want it to be a surprise though, just in case I can't do it. I don't want to get Kannuki's hopes up then fail her."

Kurosaki looked over at Tsuzuki, "I told him to ask you, because you know a lot about Shikigami and I don't know anything about them. I figured you could help him a lot more than I could."

"Oh. Well then, if that's the case, you came to the right person." Tsuzuki said with a smug smile, clearly enjoying the fact Terazuma was asking for his help. "You don't want to learn to overpower him, you want to learn to work together with him."

Terazuma slammed his hand down on the table. "Dammit, this is why I didn't want to come to you for help! I knew you were going to say that!"

Tsuzuki gaze hardened. "Well, you did ask, and that's my answer. It's because you don't try to understand each other that you are constantly having to fight each other. Having a Shikigami is the same as having a partnership. It doesn't work out if you don't care about each other. You have to trust your partner and work with him, not against him. Same with a Shikigami."

"No, you don't get it." Terazuma said, shaking his head, "I don't want his power. I don't want to work with him. Just because it's easy for you to befriend every damn Shikigami you come across doesn't mean I can just become Kuroshungei's friend!"

"Then what is it, exactly, you want me to do? You asked me for help, but won't take my advice. Why bother if you aren't going to listen?" Tsuzuki growled, his tone growing more unfriendly as the conversation went on.

Terazuma sighed in aggravation. "I don't know. Kurosaki thought you could help, so I asked. I thought by sticking around him for a bit, I could learn to hold Kuroshungei away for a short period of time. It worked a little in the rain this morning. I just..." he sighed again, this time in defeat, "Never mind, forget it. I'll figure it out on my own." He was about to walk away, but Tsuzuki spoke up.

"You really want to do this for Wakaba, don't you?"

Terazuma stopped and turned to face Tsuzuki. "Why else would I ask you of all people for help?"

"Alright, how about this: whenever you get a chance, stop by my house and we'll see what we can do."

Terazuma nodded and continued on his way back to his desk. Kurosaki raised an eyebrow at Tsuzuki.

"I hope you know what you are doing by inviting him over. If your house gets destroyed next, I'm not helping you and I'll go live with Tatsumi."

"Aw, come on, Hisoka! It's not like something gets destroyed every time Terazuma and I are in the same room!"

"Right. That's why you two destroyed the library. Twice. Then managed to blow half of my house to smithereens for no reason."

Tsuzuki took a big bite out of his sandwich before speaking again. "Don't worry, it'll be fine! It's not like we'll do anything inside that could make him transform."

"Which is exactly why I went _outside_ with Terazuma, yet you two _still_ managed to wreck my house."

Just as Tsuzuki opened his mouth to protest, Kurosaki stuffed the remainder of Tsuzuki's sandwich into the elder Shinigami's mouth, cutting off whatever words were about to come from it.

"Shut up and finish your lunch so we can get back to work."

-----------------------

"Hey, Kannuki, I'm going to head over to Tsuzuki's for a bit. I told them I'd help rearrange some furniture to make some space for Kurosaki. He could use some kind of bed and all, you know."

Kannuki looked up from the plate she was currently washing and over at Terazuma. "Oh, that's nice of you, Hajime! Do you want me to go along and help out?"

Terazuma shook his head. "Nope, I got it. Don't worry, I'm not going to argue with Tsuzuki. I'll walk away if it gets bad, okay? I promise."

"Okay. Don't be out too late!"

I'll be back within a couple of hours." Terazuma replied, grabbing a jacket and heading out the door. Luckily, it had stopped raining. It had poured all afternoon, which really tested Terazuma's patience. He had stayed in a fairly good mood, however, compared to how he normally was when it rained that hard, so he figured he was making some slight progress with his training.

When he arrived at the house, Kurosaki was the one who answered the door. Tsuzuki was finishing up washing the dishes as Terazuma walked in.

"You actually came." Tsuzuki said, looking over at Terazuma in surprise.

"Did you think I wasn't serious about this?"

"Well, still, I never expected to see you at my house. Does Wakaba know?"

"I told her that I was coming over to help rearrange furniture to make more room for Kurosaki. So, what's the deal? Can you actually help me, or are you just going to rant about companionship?"

Tsuzuki sighed, "Hisoka and I have been talking about it. I still think trying to force Kuroshungei to submit to you isn't the right way to do it, but Hisoka thinks we could give it a try."

Kurosaki nodded. "Given yours and Kuroshungei's personalities, I don't think trying to work together will work. At least not right away. I figured if you could show Kuroshungei that he's going to have to listen to you, eventually he's going to do only what he's supposed to, and then you can worry about working together better." Granted, he didn't know much about Shikigami, but it sounded like a good idea to him. After all, he and Tsuzuki hadn't worked well together at first. Kurosaki had tried going against Tsuzuki and investigating his own death until Tsuzuki caught him. They had been working together a lot better since then for the most part. If having a Shikigami was like having a partner, then something similar should work for Terazuma and Kuroshungei, right?

"At least somebody understands where I'm coming from." Terazuma said, glad he wasn't going to have to deal with Tsuzuki trying to force his ways of taming Shikigami onto him. He couldn't be friends with Kuroshungei like that. He knew he couldn't. If he tried, the Shikigami would just try to take over again. Terazuma had to show him who was boss, and that was that.

"Still," Tsuzuki cut in, wiping his hands on the hand towel and fully turning to face Terazuma, "I think it would help if you tried to understand each other."

"We understand each other perfectly well. I don't want him, he doesn't want me. Simple as that." Terazuma growled.

Tsuzuki fought to keep from raising his voice at Terazuma. "I know that, but did you ever stop to think about _why_ Kurshungei doesn't want to be your Shikigami?"

Terazuma went silent. Truth be told, he didn't really care about why Kuroshungei didn't want to be his Shikigami, but he knew Tsuzuki wasn't going to take that for an answer.

Tsuzuki took Terazuma's silence as a no. "See? That's why I say you can't properly control a Shikigami if you don't understand it. Does Kuroshungei dislike humans? Does he just not like how you treat him? Maybe he actually _does_ want to work with you, but you won't let him."

"But it's only when he touches a girl." Hisoka pointed out, leaving out the fact that he, too, could transform Terazuma, "Or in the rain, right?"

"Well, the rain is explainable by the fact Kuroshungei is a fire Shiki. The other part is what we have to figure out, and that's something only Terazuma can do. Terazuma, you not wanting a Shikigami in the first place might only be part of the problem. If you can figure out why he tries to take over specifically when you touch a female, you can then figure out what to do to prevent it."

Terazuma remained quiet. He never really bothered to think about why it was only when he touched a female (or, apparently, anybody he tried to convince himself was a female) that Kuroshungei took over. It wasn't until Tsuzuki mentioned it that he realized he didn't _want_ to think about it. Why was that? Was he...scared?

Kurosaki picked up on Terazuma's sudden and unusual change of mood. "Terazuma?"

Terazuma quickly shook the thoughts out of his head. He didn't want Kurosaki picking anything up from his thoughts. "Nothing, never mind. Hey, Tsuzuki, would you mind if I came back tomorrow or something? I don't want to be gone too long and it looks like it might start raining again soon."

"I suppose so..." Tsuzuki answered, slightly confused as to why Terazuma suddenly seemed to want to leave, but come back another day.

"Alright, I'll stop by later then. See ya." With that, Terazuma walked out the door.

"What was that all about?" Tsuzuki asked.

Kurosaki shrugged. "I'm not sure. His mood suddenly shifted, but he hid it as soon as he realized. He must have thought of something, but I'm not going to pry into something he obviously doesn't want me to know."

"Oh. Well, I hope he can figure it out. Wakaba is really special to him."

"I know."

It was quiet for a moment before Tsuzuki spoke again, "Hey, speaking of furniture, want to go pick up a cot or something you can sleep on? I feel bad sending you to the couch every night...Are you sure you don't want to sleep in my bed? I can take the couch."

Kurosaki sighed. "Tsuzuki, we went over this before. I'm smaller than you, so it makes more sense for me to sleep on the couch, and there is no point in spending money on a cot. You're never going to use it again when I get my house back anyway."

Tsuzuki frowned. "Ah, I guess you're right..." To be honest, he didn't really want Kurosaki to go home. He liked having somebody else around. Kurosaki always did prefer to be alone though, and Tsuzuki figured Kurosaki didn't want to live with him longer than was necessary. "Well, if you ever change your mind, just let me know." He gave a grin.

"Alright."

----------------

It wasn't really something Terazuma ever wanted to think about again. He tried to avoid any memories of that event when he was alive the best he could, and, for the most part, he was successful. It had been a long time since he'd been reminded of it, but the conversation with Tsuzuki had brought it all back.

He laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Kannuki had already gone to bed and was probably already asleep, leaving him to ponder over the reason he transformed when he touched females. Thinking about it now, he had an idea of why it happened. It seemed a little odd, since he was convinced Kuroshungei hated him, but it did kind of make sense.

When he was alive, Terazuma had been a detective. Granted, he wasn't exactly the best one, but he still took on various cases. At one point in his life, he had successfully busted a man who had been charged with the rape and murder of three women. The man was convicted and given a death sentence. What Terazuma hadn't known was that the man had had a younger brother who swore revenge after his sibling had been killed. Both men were extremely sly, and the younger brother knew just how to get his revenge.

About a week after the older brother died, the younger kidnapped a young woman Terazuma was rather fond of. The two had been friends for a while, and the woman had hinted at liking Terazuma as more than just a friend. The man called Terazuma, demanding him to go to an abandoned building if he wanted to see the girl again, and that if he brought any backup or anyone with him, she'd die.

Of course, Terazuma agreed. Without informing anybody, he went to the appointed area at the appointed time. When he arrived, the man was holding the woman at gunpoint. The two men had exchanged a few words, though, what they were, Terazuma couldn't exactly remember. All he could accurately recall was the horrified look on his friend's face, the tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried silently, both for Terazuma and herself. He wasn't sure what had happened next, either. Movements were made, Terazuma had every intent on saving his friend, gunshots rang out, and the woman fell to the ground, dead, a hole in her head. The man had been shot in the shoulder, and when Terazuma saw that his friend had been killed, he proceeded to shoot the man in the chest several times, killing him.

The incident had left Terazuma heavily wounded. He called an ambulance, but died before he made it to the hospital. He remembered the shame, the sorrow, the guilt for his friend's death. He remembered cursing himself over and over, wishing he hadn't made such a mistake. Surely a good detective wouldn't have left ways for the man to track him down. His friend was dead, and it was all his fault. He knew he was dying too, but at that moment, he didn't care. He only wished it could have been only him instead of his friend. She shouldn't have had to die for his mistakes.

Terazuma slammed his fist into his pillow at the memory. Even after so long, it still bothered him. Ever since becoming a Shinigami, he had tried to make it a point not to form relationships with women. It wasn't consciously, either. It wasn't until he thought about it that he realized that was why he distanced himself from Kannuki. Yet, at the same time, he could never keep her away. She was too special to him. Which brought him back to the point of Kuroshungei, the reason he was thinking about all of this at all.

Parasitic Shikigami were the type to come into action without being summoned when their master was in danger. Was it possible that Kuroshungei was actually protecting Terazuma? He didn't think it was likely, since he was convinced they hated each other. Still, it was a possibility. But how could he stop it from happening? If he told Tsuzuki what he thought it was, would Tsuzuki know? Not that Terazuma wanted to reveal this information to Tsuzuki. As far as he was concerned, it was none of that slacker's business. It was nobody's business but his own. The only problem was, he couldn't learn to control Kuroshungei without help. Kurosaki was an empath, maybe he would have good advice.

Terazuma sighed. Well, Kurosaki did know how to keep secrets. Perhaps Terazuma would talk to him. He didn't need to reveal everything. He would make up an excuse again tomorrow to visit Kurosaki and Tsuzuki, and hopefully this time, he'd get somewhere.

* * *

_Author's Note: I'm kind of going out on a limb here with Terazuma's backstory. It just came to me as I was writing this chapter. Since we never get much of a glimpse into Terazuma's past, other than the fact he was a detective, I had to make one myself, and it all just pieced together as I wrote it. I hope you all enjoyed it. _


	4. Confession

Kurosaki yawned and cuddled into the warm...blanket? No, that wasn't a blanket. Nor was it a pillow, and he didn't sleep with anything else. Was that...Tsuzuki?!

The empath made a move to sit up, but the arm around him clearly wasn't about to let him go. Why was he in Tsuzuki's bed? He could clearly remember falling asleep on the couch, so how had he gotten into Tsuzuki's room? As far as he knew, he didn't sleepwalk, so unless his partner kidnapped him in his sleep, he had no reason to be in the room at all, much less in Tsuzuki's bed, with Tsuzuki, no less.

A loud yawn came from Tsuzuki as the older Shinigami rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "Mornin', Hisoka."

"Why am I here?"

Tsuzuki looked confused. "What do you mean? Did you forget you were staying with me for now?"

Kurosaki glared, flustered. "Not that, idiot! I mean why am I not on the couch!"

"You don't remember?"

"No...what happened?"

Tsuzuki frowned. "You were having a nightmare, so I woke you up. At least, I thought you were awake, but if you don't remember, maybe you weren't. Anyway, you didn't seem to want me to go, so I asked if you wanted to sleep in my room instead. You said 'yes', so I carried you here. I was going to set up a place for me to sleep on the floor so you would be comfortable on the bed, but...you wouldn't let me go. You seemed really scared so..." He shrugged. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No...it's okay." Kurosaki said, trying to remember any of what Tsuzuki had said happening. He did remember having a nightmare- though he remembered more what he felt than what it was actually about- which had ended rather abruptly. It started out very dark, filled with a cold loneliness, but then suddenly turned warm and reassuring. There was a comforting feeling after that, he guessed that was Tsuzuki, but Kurosaki still couldn't remember waking up. Thinking back on it, it felt like part of the dream. He figured his empathy must have kicked in and had him unconsciously clinging to that protection that was Tsuzuki. That must have been some nightmare. The more he thought about it, the more he remembered what exactly he had been dreaming about. Bits and pieces flashed through his mind. Fire, desperation, loss, Tsuzuki fading away from him, burning, the all-too-real fear of being alone...

Kurosaki immediately halted those thoughts and shuddered, something Tsuzuki noticed, for he put his arm back around Kurosaki, trying to comfort him.

"Are you alright?" Tsuzuki asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kurosaki said, squirming away from Tsuzuki slightly, still unused to being comforted in such a way, but not completely wanting to deny it either.

"Do you want to talk about it? The nightmare, I mean."

Kurosaki shook his head. "No...I'd rather not."

"Alright...but if you ever need to talk about something, you can come to me." Tsuzuki said, not wanting to push the issue, but wanting to make sure Kurosaki knew that Tsuzuki was there for him.

"Okay...but that goes for you too, you know. If you are upset I mean, you can tell me."

"Deal. You sure you are okay now? You were really scared last night..."

Kurosaki nodded. "I'm fine, really. It was just a dream. I'm alright now." Truth be told, he was still a little shaken up, but Tsuzuki's presence was comforting and reminded Kurosaki that he wasn't gone. What happened in his nightmare never had to happen.

As his partner released him and he shifted, Kurosaki felt something at his back. Reaching behind him, he pulled up an old teddy bear of a decent size. It was almost two feet tall with the typical, brown teddy bear look.

"Hey, why do you sleep with a teddy bear?"

Tsuzuki gave a sheepish grin. "Ah...well, it started when I was little. Whenever I had nightmares, I'd crawl into my sister's bed and sleep with her for the rest of the night. Whenever I did so, however, it would wake her up, and I always felt bad for interrupting her sleep just because I had been scared of a dream. She always told me she didn't mind, but I still hated waking her up. One time when she took me to a fair, she won me a teddy bear. Before bed that night, she told me that if I had a nightmare, to hug it as tight as I could, and it would help me fall back asleep. Of course, she still assured me that I could go to her if I got scared, but I did as she said. I stopped crawling into her bed and instead would hug the bear, remembering that Ruka was in the other room over and that she would protect me from harm. Though that one isn't the same bear, unfortunately, I had gotten so used to hugging a teddy bear in my sleep, that I continued doing so even as a Shinigami." He laughed. "That must sound pretty silly and immature to you...but it helps me sleep if I can hug something at night. It reminds me of Ruka too."

Kurosaki shook his head. "Nah, it doesn't sound immature." That explained why he had woken up so close to Tsuzuki. Though, he did already know Tsuzuki was a cuddly type of person, so it wasn't surprising. "You really loved your sister, didn't you?"

"I did. She was the only person in my life who didn't care about the color of my eyes. She raised me, took care of me, comforted me when I was upset... She was very important to me...I loved her more than anyone."

Kurosaki looked at the teddy bear. Having an older sister sounded so nice. Would his sister have been like that if she hadn't died? He knew that he had had a sister, his father would sometimes take him to her grave, but he didn't know much else about her. His father had told him she'd died of illness. They both had the same name, which was something that would haunt his dreams occasionally. Would his life had been different if his sister had lived? Would she have cared about him like Ruka did for Tsuzuki, or would she have shunned him just like his mother had?

"Hisoka?"

Tsuzuki's voice broke Kurosaki out of his thoughts. "Hm?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just...thinking. I told you I had a sister, right? She died before I was born. I was just wondering what it would have been like to have an older sister like you did."

Tsuzuki frowned, suddenly regretting he had shared his story with Kurosaki. "Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I won't talk about Ruka anymore."

"No, it's okay, really. I'm fine. Besides, I like hearing your stories about her."

Tsuzuki looked surprised. "Really? You're actually interested?"

Kurosaki nodded. "Mhmm. You talk about her so highly and get so excited sometimes. Besides, your my partner, of course I'm interested. We can't work together if we don't know each other, right?"

The older Shinigami smiled. "Right."

"Good. Now get up, I'm going to make breakfast."

-------------------

"You're in an awful good mood this morning, Hajime." Kannuki noted as she took a seat at the kitchen table.

Terazuma shrugged. "Nothing to be upset about." Naturally, he wasn't going to tell her the real reason why he was happy. He believed he may have figured out the reason why Kuroshungei decided to transform every time Terazuma touched a female, and wanted to see Tsuzuki again to find out what he thought about it.

"You've even been holding off on smoking a lot lately too. I'd think smoking less would make you more grumpy."

"Looks like it's had the opposite effect, eh?" Terazuma said before taking a big bite of his pancakes.

Kannuki giggled. "Whatever works for you."

It was silent for a moment while the pair ate their breakfast. Terazuma eventually spoke, "Hey, Kannuki, I'm going to head over to Tsuzuki's place again later this afternoon, make sure they don't need any more help with anything."

"That's sweet of you. Want me to come with you?"

"No!" Terazuma said all too quickly, receiving a strange look from Kannuki. "Uh...I mean, you should stay home and relax a bit. It'll be moving big stuff around some more, and I don't want you to hurt yourself or anything trying."

"Oh, okay. I'll leave it to the big, strong men to take care of." She giggled again, making Terazuma smile. He swore she had the most adorable laugh anybody could possibly have. Sometimes he'd tell her jokes just to hear it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how much he loved Kannuki. He denied it at every turn, but soon, he hoped he wouldn't have to deny it anymore. He'd be able to treat her as he should, be able to hold her hand, hug her, dance with her. He wouldn't have to be afraid of getting close, both physically and emotionally. Most importantly, he'd be able to make her happy.

Having finished his breakfast, Terazuma began cleaning up his spot. He was about to wash the dishes when Kannuki took the sponge from him.

"You go help out Tsuzuki and Kurosaki. I'll take care of the dishes."

"It's not a big deal, I can go after I'm done."

"It's fine, I got it. I appreciate the offer though." She smiled. If it wasn't for his Shikigami, Terazuma probably would have kissed her right then. He didn't want to destroy their kitchen, however, so he held off on that.

"I'll be back soon."

"Okay, I'll see you later! Make sure you be careful not to do anything that would make you transform!"

"Hey, hey, I've been doing good, haven't I? Tsuzuki's house is still in one piece, have some faith in me!"

"You're right. I'm proud of you. Bye for now!"

Terazuma couldn't hold in a smile as he walked out the door. If she was proud of him now, just wait until later. She'd be astounded.

------------

Just when Terazuma had turned onto Tsuzuki's street, the clouds overhead decided to let loose and pour on the unsuspecting Shinigami. As soon as the first couple of raindrops hit, Terazuma pulled his jacket up over his head and ran the rest of the way to Tsuzuki's house, swearing loudly. He pounded on the door, trying his best to keep Kuroshungei back, who was raging inside him. The second the door was open, he ran inside, almost knocking Kurosaki down in the process.

Kurosaki normally would have asked what was going on, but it didn't take an empath to know Terazuma was fighting desperately to hold his Shikigami in. He stood in the middle of the living room, dripping wet and shuddering violently. Kurosaki quickly shut the door and ran to the bathroom, grabbed a couple of towels, and handed them to Terazuma.

"Th-thanks." Terazuma managed to say, wiping his face first, then drying himself as best he could.

Tsuzuki, who had been washing dishes, stood in the doorway with soapy hands. "What's going on?"

Kurosaki turned to his partner. "You and Terazuma look about the same size, get him some clothes to change into, he's soaked. Unless of course you don't want a living room anymore."

He made a face, but ultimately decided that lending Terazuma pants and a shirt was far better than losing half his house, wiped his hands on a hand towel and headed to his bedroom to get the clothes. When he returned, he tossed the clothing to Terazuma.

"You can change in the bathroom. Just throw your wet clothes in the tub for now."

Terazuma nodded once and briskly walked to the bathroom. Though Kuroshungei was calming down, he certainly wouldn't stand for Terazuma sitting in cold, wet clothes. After closing the bathroom door, Terazuma began to get undressed, mumbling to himself. The weather hadn't called for rain until late in the night, but apparently, it had been wrong. To make matters worse, it was Tsuzuki he had come to visit, and was now stuck in his rival's house, borrowing his clothes. Talk about embarrassing. Well, at least the clothes fit. It was better than dealing with Kuroshungei for the remainder of the afternoon and possibly destroying another house. Though he wouldn't have minded if he had ruined Tsuzuki's to begin with instead of Kurosaki's.

Now in dry clothes, Terazuma left the bathroom and headed back down the hall to the living room. Tsuzuki had gone back to finishing the dishes (no doubt because Kurosaki made him wash them after each meal) while Kurosaki sat on the couch, waiting for Terazuma to come back.

"Sorry about that." Terazuma mumbled. "Wasn't supposed to rain today."

"What brings you here in the first place?" Kurosaki asked.

"Well..." Terazuma hesitated a moment, unsure if he really wanted Kurosaki and Tsuzuki to know the one thing he didn't tell anybody, not even Kannuki. He didn't have to tell them the details though, they didn't need to know that. After all, it was really none of their business. They had their secrets about their lives, and he had his. As long as they didn't pry, which he knew Kurosaki at least wouldn't, it should be okay. "I think I know why Kurshungei doesn't like women."

Tsuzuki walked into the room, having finished the dishes. "Oh?"

"Parasitic Shikigami come out when their master is in danger, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I think...that's why."

Tsuzuki looked a little confused. "Women are a threat to you?"

Terazuma sighed. "I...it has to do with...when I was alive. I'd rather not discuss it, but I'm almost positive that's why. It makes sense, if what you say about parasitic Shikigami is true and Kuroshungei just isn't out to torture me."

"I suppose that's possible. Whatever happened, if you view it as a threat, the Shikigami is going to know that and spring into action. Kuroshungei is protecting you from whatever happened in your past."

"Then how do I fix it? How do I make him not come out anytime I make physical contact with a female?"

Tsuzuki shrugged. "You'll have to figure that out. You know what's going on, not me. Come to terms with whatever it is. As long as you are afraid of it, even if you try to tell yourself you aren't, if it still scares you, Kuroshungei is going to come out."

"Right..." Terazuma glanced out the window. It was down pouring. There was no way he was going to be able to go back home in this. "Wonderful..."

"You'll have to stay here until it stops raining." Kurosaki said, glancing over at Tsuzuki before looking back at Terazuma.

Terazuma gave an aggravated sigh. "Do you mind if I call Kannuki?"

"The phone is on the wall, opposite the stove." Kurosaki said, pointing in the direction of the phone.

"Thanks." Terazuma walked passed Tsuzuki without looking at him and picked up the phone. It rung only once before Kannuki picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kannuki, it's me."

"Oh, Hajime! Is everything alright? Once it started raining, I was so worried you were still outside! I was getting ready to go look for you when the phone rang."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Luckily I was just down the street when it started to rain, so I made it to Tsuzuki's. Listen, I'm going to have to stay here until the rain subsides. I can't go out in this."

"Alright, I understand. Wait until the rain is done, just incase it decides to soften up but then rain hard again."

"Okay."

"Call me when you are on your way back, okay?"

"I will."

"I'll see you later then. Don't argue with Tsuzuki, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I won't."

"Bye, Hajime!"

"Bye, Kannuki."

Terazuma hung the phone up and walked back into the living room, sitting at the opposite end of the couch from Kurosaki. The rain was beating hard against the windows. This was going to be a long day.

"So...you think if I get all that stuff sorted out, Kuroshungei will stop coming out every time I touch a girl?"

Tsuzuki shrugged. "Don't know for sure, but it's worth a try. Like I said, if the idea of touching a girl scares you, he's going to come out when you do touch a girl because it's his job to protect you. Even if you don't like each other."

Easier said than done. How was he supposed to just forget the past? It left such a deep scar, he couldn't just act like it never happened, and he still couldn't forgive himself for it either. What was he going to do?

"You'll figure it out." Kurosaki said, picking up on Terazuma's aggravation.

"I hope so..." Terazuma mumbled.

Tsuzuki was looking out the window. "Well, can't work on my garden now...oh, I know! Let's play some board games!"

Kurosaki frowned. "Board games? Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Think about it, Tsuzuki. You and Terazuma playing a board game. You're competitive when you aren't even playing a game, never mind when you actually have a reason to compete."

"Come on, it'll be fun! It's not like we have anything better to do."

Kurosaki sighed. He had a bad feeling about this. "Alright, fine. But if you two start arguing, I'm dragging you both into opposite rooms of the house and locking you in them until it stops raining. I don't want to have to find another place to stay."

The name of the first game Tsuzuki picked out alone almost made Kurosaki skip the board games and send the two older Shinigami to opposite sides of the house. He had decided to play Trouble, which could possibly end up in quite a lot of trouble if Tsuzuki and Terazuma landed on each other's pieces and sent each other back to Home often enough. He wouldn't listen to Kurosaki's suggestion to play a different game, however, so the three sat down for a game of Trouble. Things seemed to go well for a while, and Kurosaki started to believe that it was possible for the two to sit down for a friendly game. That started to fade, however, when one of Terazuma's pieces landed on Tsuzuki's, the latter of which was three spaces away from Home.

"You did that on purpose." Tsuzuki growled, putting his piece back in the start row.

"Well, duh. That's the purpose of the game." Terazuma said, rolling his eyes. "What did you think I was going to do, move another piece and let you get yours Home?"

After that, Tsuzuki seemed to have the intent on getting revenge, which, a few turns later, he did. From then on, it became a competition between Terazuma and Tsuzuki, with Kurosaki forgotten. Several times one of them could have overtaken one of Kurosaki's pieces, but his were left alone, the other two preferring to focus on taking each other down instead of who was actually winning the game. Thus, it didn't take long for Kurosaki to get his last piece into Home.

"There. I won, because you two were too focused on beating each other to even realize I was near the end. Game over. All done."

"Hey, Kurosaki, hold on!" Terazuma said. He almost grabbed Kurosaki's hand with the intent of pushing it away before Kurosaki could clean it up, but withdrew before they actually made contact. "Tsuzuki and I are still going, the game's not over yet!"

"Yeah, let us see who can get second place!" Tsuzuki agreed.

Kurosaki sighed in aggravation. "Whatever. But I'm staying right here, because I'm sure I'll be pulling you away in a couple minutes."

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, Tsuzuki and Terazuma had begun raising their voices at each other. Though Terazuma was trying not to get into a fight, he was still arguing back, and Tsuzuki definitely wasn't making things any better. It had gone from a discussion related to the game, to an argument that had to do with things nowhere near related. Before the two could get too deep into an argument, Kurosaki grabbed Tsuzuki by the back of his collar, yanked him back, then pulled down on his tie so they were face-to-face.

"Knock. It. Off." Kurosaki growled in a low, but threatening voice.

"Ow...but, Hisoka-"

"Tsuzuki! It's a GAME! How old are you?"

"Old enough?"

"Then stop acting like you are three!"

Tsuzuki pouted, but Kurosaki only glared in return. Terazuma snorted in the background.

"For the oldest Shinigami among us, you sure do get told off by the youngest a lot."

Tsuzuki turned his head to face Terazuma and opened his mouth to argue, but he was cut off when Kurosaki yanked him by his tie again.

"I swear, Tsuzuki, I will tie you up and throw you in a closet for the rest of the day if you don't shut up right now."

Terazuma snorted again. "I didn't know you were into that kind of thing, Tsuzuki."

Kurosaki's face quickly turned a bright red, though whether it was out of anger or embarrassment at Terazuma's comment, the other two weren't sure. Knowing Kurosaki, Tsuzuki guessed it was both.

"I'LL THROW YOU OUT INTO THE RAIN IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!"

Terazuma immediately closed his mouth, all traces of his previous smile gone. After it got quiet, Kurosaki released Tsuzuki and stomped off to the couch to read a book. It stayed quiet after that, each person doing his own thing. Tsuzuki had gone off to clean- something he had to stay on top of with Kurosaki around. Terazuma sat in the living room, once again on the opposite side of the couch from Kurosaki, thinking about his predicament with Kuroshungei. The only sounds came from the rain outside, Tsuzuki's cleaning, and Kurosaki's turning of a page. It remained that way for about another fifteen minutes, when Kurosaki suddenly broke the silence.

"It stopped raining." He said, not looking up from his book.

Terazuma glanced out the window. The clouds were dispersing, and the sun was beginning to shine through. "Alright, I'm going to call Kannuki and tell her I'm on my way."

After calling his partner, Terazuma grabbed his coat, which had, for the most part, dried. Tsuzuki stopped him before he went out the door.

"I'll bring your clothes back cleaned tomorrow to work."

"Okay...er...thanks."

That was as far as the pleasantries went before Terazuma walked out. Tsuzuki looked over at Kurosaki, who remained reading his book, not sparing a glance. Tsuzuki sighed and, knowing it was no use to try to talk to his partner at the moment, went back to finish his cleaning.

---------------------

"Hey, Hisoka?" Tsuzuki said a little later that evening. He had finished his cleaning, and afterwards had left the house for a bit. He hadn't told Kurosaki where he was going, just that he was going out and would be back in a few minutes. Kurosaki hadn't bothered to ask questions.

"What?" Kurosaki finally answered, glancing up from the book he was still reading.

"I, um...wanted to apologize. You're right, I was acting like a little kid earlier."

Kurosaki's tone was impatient, "Is that it?"

"Oh, here." Tsuzuki held out a small, rectangular-shaped package. It was wrapped in brown paper and bound with a thin blue string, tied into a ribbon in the middle of one side

Kurosaki looked confused. "For me?"

"Mhmm. Come on, open it."

Putting his book down, Kurosaki took the package, undid the string and pulled off the paper.

"That's one of the books you wanted, right?"

Kurosaki's cheeks turned a light pink. "Ah...yeah...but why did you buy it for me?"

Tsuzuki shrugged. "No one reason in particular. A combination of still making up for destroying your house, wanting to make up for aggravating you earlier and as a thank you for putting up with me enough to stay with me until your house gets fixed."

"Oh...you didn't have to do that..."

Tsuzuki smiled. "I know I didn't, but I wanted to."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Tsuzuki turned around to walk out, but Kurosaki stopped him.

"Tsuzuki."

"Hm?"

"I was thinking we could make some apple pie for dessert after dinner. What do you say?"

The older man's grin widened. "Really?! That would be great!"

Kurosaki held up a finger. "But only on one condition: you follow exactly as I instruct. I want the pie to be edible."

"Will do!"

------------------

After everything was cleaned up from dinner, Terazuma asked Kannuki to sit on the couch with him. He was nervous, and Kannuki could tell, so she followed him into the living room and sat with him.

"What is it, Hajime?"

Terazuma stared at his hands, fidgeting. "I have something I need to talk to you about. It has to do with Kuroshungei."

Kannuki was sitting close to him as she knew was comfortable for him, watching intently. "I'm listening."

Terazuma took a deep breath. "Well...it is about when I was alive. You know how I used to be a detective and all that. One of my cases resulted in me catching a guy who was put to death. The guy had a brother who swore revenge on me and knew just how to do it. There was this girl I had a crush on at the time, and he found her and held her hostage. Long story short, it ended up breaking into a gunfight, she got caught up in it, died from a gunshot wound to her head, I shot the guy and killed him, then died before making it to the hospital from my wounds."

Kannuki was taken back. She didn't know what to say. "Hajime..."

"That's why...that's why I have such a hard time. That's why I can't be near girls. I know I should have gotten over it by now but...it left such a deep scar...I just can't..."

"Hajime." Kannuki very lightly tapped his shoulder, wanting to comfort him but knowing that touching him any more than that would make him transform. "It's okay, I understand. That's a horrible thing to have happen, and I don't expect you to just be able to get over it. Is it something that's been bothering you a lot lately?"

"Well, just thinking about wrecking Kurosaki's house got me thinking about Kuroshungei, and then I remembered that. I'd been trying to repress it, but it's been bothering me. I guess I just had to get it off my chest. If anybody deserves to know, it's you."

"I'm here for whatever you need, Hajime. You can talk to me whenever you need to, and I'll help you out whenever and however I can."

"Thank you, Kannuki..."

Kannuki smiled. "Anytime."

Terazuma gave a small grin in return. Somehow, having told Kannuki his story made him feel better. He felt content, and not quite so anxious about the whole problem with Kuroshungei anymore. He would never be able to forget that incident. Scars didn't disappear, but that didn't mean he couldn't move on. After all, he had Kannuki to help him.

While he wanted to try getting closer to Kannuki, suddenly feeling confident in controlling his Shikigami, Terazuma decided against it. He was tired, and dealing with Kuroshungei while tired wasn't the smartest thing to do. There was always tomorrow; rushing would probably only make things worse. He wanted things to turn out perfectly, and was determined to do it right. Yes, tomorrow, he would try his theory.


	5. Assignment

The next morning, Terazuma was surprised to see his clothes folded up nicely inside of a bag beside his desk. He made a mental note to thank Kurosaki next time he saw him- he knew Tsuzuki wouldn't have bothered to wash and nicely fold them. Not even a minute after he sat down, Tatsumi appeared in the doorway.

"Terazuma, Kannuki, the Chief has a case for you and would like you both to meet him in his office."

"We haven't had a case in a while." Kannuki said as she and Terazuma made their way to Chief Konoe's office.

Terazuma nodded. "Yeah, but it will be nice to get out there and do something again. I'm tired of sitting around doing paperwork all day. And you know how Kuroshungei is, he gets restless if I don't call on him for a while."

Once they reached the Chief's office, the pair took a seat.

"Terazuma, Kannuki," Konoe started, "to get right to the point, there is a young woman on the Kiseki who is still alive, and a young man who is also on the Kiseki but still roaming the world of the living."

"Are the two cases related?" Terazuma asked.

Konoe nodded. "Yes. They were to be wed. The man was murdered, but never showed up at Meifu. A Shinigami was sent to retrieve him, but he has gone into hiding and refuses to move on. The woman, as you can imagine, is heartbroken. She has lost the will to live. While she has attempted suicide via drug overdose, she was rescued by family and brought to the hospital."

Kannuki frowned. "That's so sad..."

"We're Shinigami, Kannuki. Of course our missions are sad."

"I guess that's true..." Kannuki sighed.

Konoe passed a folder of papers to Terazuma. "Here is all the information you need on the case."

Opening the folder, Terazuma took a look at the three pictures paper-clipped to the inside front cover of the manilla folder. The first was of a beautiful young woman. Her auburn hair cascaded down to her waist, and there was a sparkle in her blue eyes that could belong only to somebody who was loving life. She had an average build, though she was quite clearly not an average person.

The second picture featured the man they were looking for. He was a handsome, dark-haired and dark-eyed man. He was a bit muscular, but had a playful grin on his face, as if he had just been jokingly teasing somebody.

The final picture was of the two together. They were standing in front of their house, arms around each others' waist, her head resting on his shoulder. They both wore radiant smiles, seemingly as happy as could be with each other. They looked like they didn't have a care in the world, and the girl looked far from the type that would commit suicide. A tragic end to a soon-to-be happy couple.

Terazuma looked over the address of the woman, then closed the folder. "Is that all, Chief?"

"As long as you don't have any more questions, yes."

With that, Terazuma and Kannuki were dismissed, and headed back to their office to get things ready to go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well, the girl should be easy to find, but I don't know about the guy." Terazuma said as he and Kannuki were making their way to the house of the woman, Arai Aimi.

"What do you mean? He'll be right with his fiancé."

Terazuma raised an eyebrow. "He's trying to avoid being brought to Meifu. It would be foolish of him to stay around her, he'd get caught instantly."

"Oh, Hajime, you don't understand." Kannuki said, shaking her head. "Why do you think he doesn't want to be caught? He doesn't want to leave her. Of course he's going to hang around her, he is just going to be careful not to be seen by anyone he deems suspicious. If he gave the other Shinigami the slip, he must be able to sense spiritual powers to a degree, which isn't unlikely since he is no longer alive himself."

Terazuma thought about it for a moment. That did make sense. "But she's trying to kill herself. It must be hard to him to witness that."

"I'm sure it is torture for him. But, that could be why she wasn't able to properly overdose. He somehow alerted whatever family was around, they found her and took her in."

"How can you figure all this out so easily?"

Kannuki smiled. "Simple. They are in love."

Terazuma shook his head. When Kannuki explained it like that, it made so much sense. He figured it was a girl thing, because he himself would have never thought of it like that. If it was as easy as Kannuki made it sound, they'd be back in Meifu in no time. He just wished he was allowed to chase down the murderers. Unfortunately, it was against the rules as a Shinigami to interfere.

It wasn't long before they had located Aimi's parents house (Aimi had been staying with her parents since her fiancé got killed). Terazuma hoped she'd be home alone. It would make questioning her a lot easier. Nobody else had to know they were Shinigami. He was prepared, however, with an old badge from when he was a detective. He'd even gotten into uniform for the event. He knocked firmly on the door three times and waited. A moment later, an older woman opened the door, Terazuma guessed this was Aimi's mother.

"Mrs. Arai, I presume?"

"Yes...and you are?"

"You may call me Terazuma, ma'am. I'm here to ask your daughter questions about her fiancé."

The woman frowned. "Oh, I'm not sure that it's a good time to be talking about it. I don't want her to get depressed talking about it."

"Please, Mrs. Arai." Kannuki said with a slight bow. "Talking to her will help solve this case, and perhaps put her mind at some rest."

Mrs. Arai seemed to hesitate a moment, but stepped aside. "Alright. Please, go easy on her. This has taken a tremendous toll on her."

The two Shinigami followed Aimi's mother up the stairs to Aimi's room.

"Aimi, sweetie, two people are here to speak with you." The mother said after knocking on the door.

A young girl opened the door, looking both similar to the pictures Terazuma had seen and yet completely different. She was rather skinny, unhealthily so compared to her healthy weight in the pictures. Her eyes were red and sunken in, eerily dark, with not a hint of the sparkle they once contained. There was not even a shadow of a smile on her face, her lips turned down at the corners.

"Yes?" She squeaked, trying to sound more lively than she was, but the sorrow was still thick in her voice.

"We'd like to speak to you for a few minutes." Terazuma said. He glanced over at the mother. "Alone, if that is alright."

The mother opened her mouth to protest, but Aimi interrupted. "It's fine, Mom, I'll speak with them alone."

Mrs. Arai sighed. "Alright. But if they bother you, you come and tell me right away, okay, honey?"

"Yes."

As the mother walked away, Terazuma and Kannuki followed Aimi into her room. She pulled two chairs out and set them to face her bed, then sat down on her bed and motioned for them to sit as well. "I've already told the police everything I know. I don't know what else you want from me."

"We aren't here for what you think we are." Terazuma said, taking a seat on one of the chairs, Kannuki sitting on the chair beside him.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Arai-san, you have to think about what you are doing to yourself." Kannuki said, looking at the young woman with empathetic eyes. Terazuma couldn't help but be reminded about how very caring Kannuki was. She could easily be considered a sister to just about anybody.

Aimi was silent.

"You've lost all will to live, haven't you? You can't keep continuing like this."

"That's none of your business..." Aimi muttered in a cold tone that Terazuma would never have guessed could come from somebody that once had such a kind appearance.

"Arai-san-"

"You have no clue how hard it is!" The young woman suddenly yelled, tears forming in her eyes. "Everyone says the same thing, but nobody truly understands how hard it is to just move on! I love him... We were...supposed to get...m-married..." That was as far as she got before she started crying, unable to speak anymore.

Kannuki got up from her seat to sit beside her. She put an arm around Aimi, who accepted the comfort and cried into her shoulder. "We aren't asking you to move on, Arai-san. I know it must be hard for you. What I am asking you to do, is to live your life."

Aimi looked up at Kannuki. "How? How am I supposed to do that? He was my life, there is nothing left without him!"

"He hasn't left you, Arai-san."

"What do you mean?"

Kannuki smiled and glanced over at Terazuma before turning back to Aimi. "He's been with you this whole time. He's currently hiding from us, however."

"Hiding from you? Why would he be hiding from you?"

"We are Shinigami. He doesn't want to move on."

Aimi gasped. "Sh-Shinigami? Then, you are here to find him?"

"Yes, that's half of it." Terazuma said, "The other half is you. Because you have lost your will to live, you have shown up as deceased. As Shinigami, we are supposed to make sure the deceased find their way to Meifu."

"Then...you can help me! You can help me be with him again!"

"Ah, hold on, Arai-san." Kannuki said. "Before you make such a decision, perhaps you should talk to him."

"Talk to him? How?"

Kannuki smiled. "Nakamura-san, why don't you come out? Don't worry, we want to help you."

Much to Terazuma's surprise, a few moments later, the young man did indeed appear. Though, being without a body, he was invisible to his fiancé. He sat down beside her, knowing she couldn't tell he was there, and looked at Kannuki with saddened eyes.

"Why is it so quiet?" Aimi asked, looking from Kannuki to Terazuma and back.

Kannuki got up from the other side of Aimi to stand in front of the couple. "Nakamura-san is sitting beside you right now, though you cannot see him. He's been trying for some time to communicate with you, but doesn't know how. Isn't that right, Nakamura-san?"

The man nodded.

"He's here?!" Aimi said, her voice growing higher in pitch.

"Yes, but hold on a moment. I can allow him to speak with you momentarily, however, as the procedure requires a lot of energy, it won't be able to be maintained for long. I suggest that whatever you both wish to say, you say it quickly."

Kannuki searched her pocket for a specific ofuda, then reached out and softly stuck it to the man's chest. It was a variation of the same spell she used to return Terazuma back to himself when Kuroshungei took over. Terazuma didn't know exactly how it worked- he wasn't too good at creating ofuda spells like she was- but he knew she had worked hard on perfecting it. The only problem was it drained the energy of the spirit it was attached to. Taking a tangible form without a body took an incredible amount of energy. As it was, Aimi still wouldn't be able to touch him (Kannuki was still working on making the spell more powerful), but she would be able to see and speak with him.

A gasp from Aimi affirmed the spell worked.

"Aimi? Can you see me?"

Aimi looked to be on the verge of tears. "Yes. Yes, I can!"

Nakamura smiled. "I've been wanting to talk to you since the event happened. I've been watching you...Aimi, please, I beg of you, don't throw your life away."

"Minoru...I'm so sorry...but I...I miss you so much...I just want to be with you again."

"I know, but suicide isn't the answer. Continue living your life. You'll see me again when the time is right." He leaned in and gave his fiancé what would be a kiss if he was touchable.

Terazuma felt incredibly awkward, but Kannuki's eyes were sparkling. He just hoped this would be over soon.

"I have to go...please, take care of yourself. Promise me."

"I will. I promise."

"Thank you." Nakamura smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too."

With that, Nakamura vanished back out of his fiancé's sight, the now-crumpled ofuda falling to the floor. He looked at Kannuki. "Thank you. I'm ready."

Kannuki pulled another ofuda out of her pocket and pressed it to the man's forehead. A moment later, he was gone, heading to Meifu for his judgement. She then looked at Aimi.

"Well, I suppose that since you want to live again, we can't bring you back with us."

Aimi nodded. "I'll continue living, for him. Thank you so much for your help."

Kannuki smiled and winked. "Just doing our job."

Terazuma stood up, and the two Shinigami departed. Once outside, Terazuma spoke.

"Count on you to make things to so smoothly."

Kannuki giggled. "It wasn't that hard. He was going to give us a difficult time if he couldn't speak to his fiancé first, and we had to bring him back, and, since she regained her will to live, we can't take her back anymore. She's off the Kiseki."

Terazuma shook his head. It was just like her to pull something like that off without breaking the rules. Not like there was anything anybody could do about it now anyway, since they had gotten the person they were supposed to and taking somebody that wasn't on the Kiseki was a terrible violation. The rules didn't say anything about preventing the two deceased from communicating, and, at the time, Aimi had been considered deceased. Of course, Terazuma knew that, if it had been just him, he would have probably ended up just finding the man, taking him, then taking the woman after. Kannuki, however, simply wouldn't have allowed that.

"It's kind of busy over here..." Terazuma mumbled, looking around. "Let's find a more secluded place to get back to Meifu."

Kannuki nodded in agreement and the two made their way to a back-alley. After all, they couldn't just up and vanish in front of the eyes of all the living people around.

"Is anybody around?" Kannuki asked once they had found a small area behind some houses.

Terazuma turned around and peeked around one of the corners to make sure nobody was nearby. Before he could say anything, Kannuki screamed.

Terazuma spun around. His eyes widened in horror. A man was standing behind Kannuki, one of his large hands covering her mouth, the other holding a gun to her head.

"Move, and she dies."

* * *

_Author's Note: I apologize for the cliché moments in this chapter. I wasn't originally going to give Terazuma and Kannuki a case, but the thought popped into my head the other day, and it sounded like it would work in well with the story and spice it up a bit. You'll see why next chapter. It's a slight change, but I promise that it ties in to the original idea of the fanfic, and I hope you all enjoy it._


	6. The Dance

Terazuma was frozen to his spot. He couldn't even think straight as he stared at the man before him, holding Kannuki at gunpoint. No more than a couple of seconds later, however, the shock wore off, and was replaced by anger and his intense desire to protect Kannuki. Kuroshungei reacted to this, pushing against Terazuma to get free. The Shinigami had to hold the Shikigami back, however, as letting him lose in an area populated with the living would be disastrous.

"Let her go." Terazuma growled threateningly.

"Hah! If I let her go, you'll arrest me. I'm not stupid."

Arrest him? So this was the man that had killed Nakamura. The man must have seen him and Kannuki entering and leaving Arai's house, and, since Terazuma was in uniform, gotten paranoid that they had gotten information from Arai and was desperate to avoid capture.

"Now, keep your hands in the air, unless you want me to blow her pretty little head off."

Terazuma wanted nothing more than to strangle the man to death. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to obey. While Shinigami were far more difficult to harm than a normal living human, they weren't invincible. Increased stamina and accelerated healing were standard for any Shinigami, but that didn't mean they couldn't be severely damaged, or even killed. Terazuma didn't want to risk bringing Kannuki to any kind of harm. Unfortunately, strangling the man to death was out of the question; he'd be in huge trouble if he killed somebody who was not yet meant to die.

And now, standing in this position, seeing a gun pressed hard against Kannuki's head, Terazuma couldn't help but be reminded of the night of his death. The night that prevented him from ever getting close to another female. The night in which his mistake had cost the life of an innocent. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Even if Kannuki wouldn't be killed, Terazuma felt it was his duty to protect her, and he would not let anybody hurt her. He couldn't. He had to solve this once and for all.

As he watched the man with Kannuki, different possibilities raced through his mind. If he moved, the man might shoot Kannuki. If he didn't move, the man would probably take her somewhere else and shoot her anyway, then get Terazuma when he came for her. As far as the man was concerned, the both of them were a threat to him, and he would clearly go to great lengths to avoid being caught for his crime. Terazuma wondered if he'd be able to distract the man long enough for her to make an escape without being harmed herself.

"Shooting a detective isn't a wise decision, you know." Terazuma said, hoping to distract the man.

"Why not? If you two are disposed of, whatever you've found out will be gone.

"And if you kill us, the situation will only be investigated further. They will find you."

The man laughed. "There won't be enough evidence left behind for them to find me with. You'll both die here."

Without another word, the man turned his gun on Terazuma and fired. Kannuki quickly took advantage of the man's brief moment of distraction to give him a swift kick between the legs, causing him to drop his gun, doubled over in pain. As the gun clattered to the ground, Kannuki kicked that as well, sending it a good distance away from the man, then ran over to Terazuma. As much as she wanted to take the gun so that he could not use it against anyone else and gather the attention of the police, she had to refrain, as such a thing would be considered interference.

Before Kannuki got a chance to say anything, Terazuma grabbed her by the wrist. "Let's go!" He pulled an ofuda out of one of his pockets as they ran around the corner, came to an abrupt stop, activated it, and were transported back to Meifu.

"Kannuki, are you alright?" Terazuma asked, looking for any injuries on her. She didn't appear to have any. She must have escaped just in time. The man hadn't had a chance to shoot again before she had acted, and he hadn't done anything to her before that, which came as a great relief to Terazuma. That was something else he loved about Kannuki- despite her small appearance and gentle nature, she could defend herself when she needed to.

She nodded. "I'm fine. How is your shoulder?"

Terazuma glanced at his left shoulder, where the bullet had hit. The area was stained in blood, but the bleeding was already slowing to a stop. "It's nothing, it'll heal fast enough." He looked back over at Kannuki, who had a wide grin on her face. "What is it? Why are you smiling?"

"You didn't notice?" She giggled. "Hajime, you grabbed my wrist before we left. You held it and didn't even flinch."

Terazuma's eyes widened. He had been so caught up in what was going on, he didn't even realized he had touched her. More importantly, Kuroshungei hadn't even tried to come out. Had he finally learned to control his Shikigami?

Slowly, Terazuma lifted his hand, bringing it to Kannuki's cheek, where he let his fingertips gently brush her skin. When nothing happened, he withdrew his hand and simply stared in shock. Kannuki, however, could not contain her excitement.

"Hajime-chan!" She yelled and threw her arms around Terazuma's neck, almost knocking him over with the force of her hug. "You did it! You did it!"

"Ah! Kannuki! Don't-" Terazuma cut himself off. He had been worried that he was only able to handle very small amounts of physical contact and that Kannuki's hug would anger Kuroshungei, but still, nothing happened. "I did...I did it!" He wrapped his arms around Kannuki's waist and spun her around, eliciting the most beautiful laugh from her he had ever heard.

"Hajime, I'm so happy for you!"

Terazuma smiled. In all the time he had been a Shinigami, he didn't think he'd ever given a larger, more genuine smile. Hell, he didn't think that had ever happened since he'd been born. His smile was returned by Kannuki, which was so large it looked like it could hurt.

"Come on. Let's get back so we can file our report."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ooooh, look who's holding hands now!" Tsuzuki said as he, Terazuma, Kannuki and Kurosaki were leaving work.

Kannuki smiled. "Isn't it great? Hajime-chan doesn't have to worry about Kuroshungei anymore!"

Terazuma smirked and turned to Kurosaki. Using his free hand, he prodded Kurosaki's chest. "That's right. Which means you can't threaten me anymore."

Kurosaki glared. "Oh, I have other ways if need be." He said with a slight smirk.

Terazuma returned the glare. "You wouldn't."

"Try me."

It wasn't until their faces were inches apart that Terazuma realized how close they had gotten. To make it worse, his finger was still jabbing Kurosaki's chest. Not a second later than he noticed had he felt the all too familiar, unwelcoming feeling of Kuroshungei. "Uh-oh..."

Before anybody could say anything, Kuroshungei had taken over, transforming Terazuma into a roaring Shikigami. Kannuki shook her head and jumped up, slapping an ofuda to Kuroshungei's head. As she landed, Terazuma began transforming back into himself.

"What were you saying again?" Kurosaki asked, raising an eyebrow.

Terazuma grumbled, "Shut up.", and quickly got himself dressed again. "Not my fault Kuroshungei still thinks you're a girl."

Kurosaki's eyes narrowed. "I'll touch you."

"Guess Wakaba is the only one Terazuma can touch without transforming." Tsuzuki said. "Or Hisoka is just really girl-OW!" He rubbed his head where Kurosaki had delivered a powerful whack. "I was just teasing! You didn't have to hit that hard!"

"That's what you get, stop whining."

Kannuki giggled. "Well, see you two tomorrow!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kurosaki yawned as he finished setting up the couch to sleep on. Truth be told, he was starting to miss his bed. While the couch wasn't that uncomfortable, it still wasn't as nice to sleep on every night as a bed was.

"Hey, Hisoka, did you find out from Tatsumi when your house would be ready yet?" Tsuzuki suddenly asked, standing in the doorway. Kurosaki briefly wondered whether Tsuzuki had read his mind or if the timing had just been a coincidence.

"I did talk to him about it, but he said they ran into a problem and they wouldn't be able to start reconstruction for a while."

"Oh." Tsuzuki tried to keep himself sounding indifferent, but he couldn't hide the small wave of excitement before Kurosaki picked up on it.

"Hope you don't mind me staying longer." Kurosaki said, despite knowing what Tsuzuki's response would be.

Tsuzuki smiled. "I don't mind at all. After all, it is kind of my fault. You can stay as long as you need to."

"Thanks." In actuality, things had been the opposite of what Kurosaki had told Tsuzuki. When he had gone to speak with Tatsumi, he had actually been informed that reconstruction would start the next day. Kurosaki had stopped Tatsumi there and requested that, for now, he not go through with repairing his house. When Tatsumi asked why, his reply was simple: Tsuzuki was happy. Ever since moving in, Kurosaki had noticed that Tsuzuki had been more cheerful than usual. Genuinely cheerful. He wasn't depressed, he wasn't thinking back on Kyoto, and, most importantly, he wasn't trying to kill himself. Also, Kurosaki had told Tatsumi, even if Tsuzuki did get like that again, he would know right away and be able to nip it in the bud, so to speak. He could keep a much closer eye on his partner if he was living with him. Tatsumi had smiled, and agreed to hold off the reconstruction. Thus, Kurosaki was going to stay indefinitely with Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki frowned. "We'll have to get you a bed of some kind though. You can't sleep on the couch every night. Are you sure you don't want to use mine? We can alternate."

"I'm sure, Tsuzuki. Maybe we can go pick something up this weekend."

"Alright." Tsuzuki said, his mood picking up. Getting something for Kurosaki to sleep on meant he would be staying longer, which was good news to Tsuzuki. "You look tired. I'll leave you alone so you can go to sleep now. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

Tsuzuki was about to leave the room when he turned back around. "Oh, and Hisoka? Um...if you have those nightmares again and want to sleep in my room, just go ahead. Don't worry about waking me up or anything, I won't mind. Sleep well!" With that, he left the room, heading for his own bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, Kannuki."

Kannuki dried her hands, having just finished washing the dishes, and turned around. "Hm?"

Terazuma stood with a slight bow, holding his hand out to his partner. "Want to dance?"

Before she had even gotten the word 'yes' out, Kannuki had already taken his hand. Terazuma smiled and walked into the living room with her, put his other hand on her waist, and began to dance.

"Is this why you were hanging around the whole time?" Kannuki giggled, "Waiting for the right song to come on?" She had put music on before doing the dishes, and the entire time Terazuma had been hanging around as if he was waiting for something.

"Er...yeah. I thought maybe you'd want to."

"What happened to dancing only being something girly?" She teased.

"Well...uh...that was..."

Kannuki laughed. "It's okay, Hajime. I'm just glad you don't have to worry about Kuroshungei so much anymore. Is it because of that story you told me last night and what happened earlier?"

"Mostly. You know all those times I went to visit Tsuzuki and Kurosaki? I was uh...actually asking them for help. Tsuzuki knows so much about Shikigami, so I figured I'd ask him to help me control Kuroshungei. It was when I was talking with him that I realized the reason he came out every time I touched a female was because of how I died. Parasitic Shikigami appear when they feel their master needs to be protected, so I guess that's what he was doing."

"Hajime...you actually went to Tsuzuki to ask him about something so personal?"

Terazuma shrugged. "I didn't tell him the story, just that I thought I had figured it out. He said it was something I'd have to work out myself. That's when I told you about it. Then, earlier today, when that man had you at gunpoint, it was so much like that night I died. I couldn't let him hurt you. I guess that's what finally did it."

The song was ending, to Terazuma's dismay. Kannuki hadn't finished the dishes until after this particular song had already started, but Terazuma hadn't wanted to wait for another one. Not only was it perfect for slow dancing to, but he knew it was Kannuki's favorite track. There was still one thing he could do, however.

Pulling Kannuki closer, Terazuma wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips gently to hers. Kannuki responded almost immediately, sliding her arms around his neck and returning his kiss. It was something the both of them had been waiting for for a long time.

A minute later, when they pulled apart, Kannuki asked, "Why did you go through all of that to begin with?"

Terazuma smiled. "To dance with you."

* * *

_Author's Note: And that's a wrap! I really hope you enjoyed it, as there is not enough fanfiction about Terazuma and Kannuki. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed!_


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